J-Speaks: What If the Seatle Supersonics Did Not Trade Scottie Pippen on Draft Night in 1987?

As important as the great Michael Jordan was the Chicago Bulls in winning their six champions in eight seasons in the middle to the late 1990s, there is a possibility that they would not had won those Larry O’Brien trophies without his partner in crime on the hardwood in Scottie Pippen. In the five years that Pippen and Jordan were not together in MJ’s first retirement from the NBA and the last two stops of Pippen’s career, he did not win a title and only reached the Conference Finals once. What if there was the possibility that Pippen may not had been a member of the Bulls? 

In the 1987 NBA Draft, Pippen, a native of Hamburg, AK, who attended the University of Central Arkansas was chosen by then Seattle Supersonics at No. 5 overall. 

Less than an hour later, the relative unknown forward at that time had his draft rights dealt to the Bulls for the No. 8 overall pick in center Olden Polynice out of the University of Virginia. 

That trade set the stage for the Bulls’ dynasty of them authoring two separate three-peat championship runs from 1991-93 and 1996-98. 

The first four picks in that draft were Hall of Fame center David Robinson by the San Antonio Spurs out of the Naval Academy. At No. 2, the Phoenix Suns selected out of the University of Las Vegas (UNLV) power forward Armen Gilliam. At No. 3, the then New Jersey, now Brooklyn Nets drafted small forward Dennis Hopson out of Ohio State University. At No. 4, the Los Angeles Clippers selected out of Georgetown University small forward Reggie Williams. 

Both the Bulls and Supersonics were teams that entered that draft at a crossroads. The Bulls had the NBA’s best young player in Jordan but had losing records in his first two seasons.

The Sonics on the other hand were coming off a surprising run to the Western Conference Finals, but still finished the 1986-87 NBA campaign with a 39-43 record and were one player at least away from being a serious threat to the Kings of the league in the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat them in a four-game sweep. 

They thought they found that missing piece in Pippen, who they drafted at No. 5 overall in 1987. But they then traded his right away for the draft rights to Polynice. 

When Pippen played for Central Arkansas, according to writer of the Chicago Tribune then in Sam Smith, he was able to get into the school on a work study. 

In his freshmen season, Pippen was handing out towels to his teammates and he was playing for a school whose basketball team was a relative unknown to many people. 

When Pippen was recruited out of Hamburg High School, he was a 6’1” guard who between his freshmen, and sophomore year for the Bears of UCA grew to 6’8.”

“There’ still a whole lot I have to learn about the NBA and going in I’m looking to go in and play the three position, but someday I want to work my way into the point guard position,” Pippen said in an interview upon getting drafted.  

To put into context the position Pippen was chosen at, he went one spot ahead of current NBA on TNT/NBATV studio analyst Kenny Smith, who was selected at No. 6 by the Sacramento Kings. 

“I don’t know if I was surprised he was drafted over me, but I was disappointed,” Smith, who was the No. 6 overall pick out of University of North Carolina said. “I know my track record. I was First-Team All-American. Man, this guy is like an unknown.” 

“So, I was disappointed and more because I wanted to have an opportunity to play with Michael Jordan.” 

According to NBA on TNT sideline reporter and NBATV insider David Aldridge, it was a tournament that Pippen and the Bears played in that solidified the Bulls and their late Hall of Fame general manager then Jerry Krause, who was in his third season then in trading for his draft rights. 

“So, he was a name but nobody thought Top 10,” Aldridge said. 

Krause, a former scout for the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers and Bulls also noticed Pippen’s raw talent at a pre-draft camp a few weeks earlier. 

This trade turned out to be one of the most important move Krause ever made as a GM as the athletic and rangy Pippen would develop into one of the most all-around players on both ends of the court and a dynamic Robin to Jordan’s Batman and an eventual Hall of Famer. 

To put into context the kind what the Bulls were prior to Pippen joining the team, Jordan had lost nine of his first 10 games in the postseason. 

Smith posed this question of today’s pro basketball player, “If a player now at that level was 1 and 9 in his first 10 playoff games, what would his reputation be?” 

“It be like, ‘He’s not a winner. He’s a loser.” 

As good a player as Jordan was on both ends of the floor, he was starting to wear down having to score and defend the best perimeter player on the other team.

This was a man who was going against the best player in the not just the Eastern Conference in Hall of Famer Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. Their eventual rival in the late 1980s and to start the 1990s in the “Bad Boys” of the Detroit Pistons and Hall of Famers Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, and Bill Laimbeer. The Atlanta Hawks and their star in Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins and Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J.” Erving and the Sixers.

“The league in the 80s was loaded with great teams in the Eastern Conference,” Smith said. “And so, the guys MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and he’s getting knocked out in the second round.”

If there is anyone who knows first hand the level Jordan would push his teammates to be as great as he was is former teammate and current Bulls color analyst for NBC Sports Chicago Stacey King. 

Jordan according to King pushed guys. He demanded a lot of them. Jordan wanted those he played with to reach a higher level than that player even thought he could get to. 

That constant push according to Aldridge is something that helped Pippen “immensely.” 

“If you were not mentally tough, you couldn’t play with Michael Jordan,” he said. “He would destroy you.” 

That is why according to Smith, players over the years like Brad Sellers and Rodney McCray were basically run out of the “Windy City,” by Jordan because he did not respect what they brought to the team. 

Players who did earn that respect and trust of “His Airness,” especially during the championship seasons were Pippen, King, Horace Grant, B.J. Armstrong, John Paxson, Bill Cartwright, Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman, and current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. 

Aldridge said that Jordan stayed on Pippen for years until he developed the kind of mental toughness that it took to play with what many argue is the greatest player to ever do work on the NBA hardwood.  

Once that took shape the physical talents blossomed and he was able to do what many others that played with MJ could not.

“Some people could handle it. Some people couldn’t,” King, who played with Pippen and Jordan for the first three-peat said. “The guys who could handle it were on those championship teams. The guys who couldn’t were on somebody else’s team.” 

The result, six championships as previously mentioned in eight seasons. As for Polynice, he played four unimpressive seasons in the Pacific Northwest and was journeymen playing for the Pistons, Kings, the Sonics again, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers, and several other teams in other league across the remainder of his NBA career. 

How would the landscape for the Bulls and Supersonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder had looked had Pippen and Polynice not been traded for each other? 

Those Supersonics teams under then head coach Bernie Bickerstaff were solid playoff teams, which were led by All-Star Tom Chambers, sharp shooter Dale Ellis and fellow forward Xavier McDaniel. 

Would adding Pippen to that trio made that much of a difference? According to Aldridge, it would have depended on what they wanted Pippen to develop into. 

Ellis, who played for the Sonics from 1986-91 and 1997-99 said that if Pippen had joined them it would have made things a lot easier for him because it is another player on the floor that the opposition had to pay attention to. 

“It was unfortunate that I played with some player that didn’t command a double team,” Ellis, who averaged 20.9 points on 49.8 percent from the field and 41.8 percent from three-point range said. 

Two years after trading Pippen, the Sonics drafted power forward Shawn Kemp with the No. 17 pick in the 1989 draft and selected lead guard Gary Payton with the No. 2 overall pick a year later. The pick of Payton was that of a deal for backup center Alton Lister. 

If they had not traded Pippen, the Sonics entering the 1990s would have had their so-called “Big Three” of Kemp, Payton, and Pippen. 

Three guys who had the athleticism to dominate on both ends. When you talk about Kemp, he was a guy who could jump out of the gym with the best of them. His ability to posturize people at the rim or have highlight dunks on the offensive glass or block shots was unlike anything seen then. 

Payton ability to score, pass and defend on the perimeter was special when he played and is a major reason he was 1996 Defensive Player of the Year; nine-time All-Star and nine-time NBA All-Defensive First-Team selection. 

Pippen who was a versatile forward who could score, rebound, pass, and defend, while playing four positions would have given the opposition problems as well. 

“If you could keep Scottie Pippen, Gary Payton, and Shawn Kemp together on the team and bring in some good support guys, yeah I can imagine them winning easily,” Ellis said. 

In the 1987 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls made a deal to acquire the draft rights of an unknown player out of Central Arkansas in Scottie Pippen who teamed up with Michael Jordan and formed one of the best duos in NBA history.

After getting over the hump of the Detroit Pistons, who ended their championship runs in the Semifinals in 1988 and in the Conference Finals in 1989 and 1990 respectably ran the league for an eight-year period winning six titles in the process. 

For the then Seattle Supersonics, Olden Polynice ended up being a bust, but they drafted players in Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton in 1989 and 1990 respectably and they had great years for them. 

While they won 55 games or more for six straight seasons from 1992-93 to 1997-98 and turned the Sonics into a title contender under then head coach George Karl, then just never could lead their team to a Larry O’Brien trophy. 

If Pippen were a part of their squad, it might have made a difference, but that never came to fruition. Though the possibility of what might have been sounds intriguing 21 years later.

Payton, who played for the Sonics for 12 ½ seasons (1990-03) said if the three had stuck together, Jordan would have had “problems.” 

Payton, who Sonics lost to Jordan, Pippen, and the Bulls in the 1996 Finals in six games added, “We would have won a couple of championships I think because Scottie would’ve turned it around for us a little bit.” 

“He would’ve been that guy that could guard the big guards and I could go out and guard the little guards. We could switch everything. The way we play. That’s the way we played anyway. It would’ve been a big difference if he’d stayed and I would’ve loved to play with him.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 6/15/18 NBATV original hosted by Chris Miles, “What If? Draft Stories;” “2006-07 Official NBA Guide,” by Sporting News; https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/ellisda01.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottie_Pippen; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olden_Polynice; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Supersonics; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Payton; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Krause.